Lotteria = Vampires

Date: Aug 4, 2011

The Korean version of McDonalds is a shop called Lotteria.  (Cafeteria + Lotte Mart = Lotteria). (I think this is right....It could just be some Konglish...)  A Lotteria just opened up on my way to walk.  It is dangerous.  I have a habit of stopping in the morning and getting an Iced Cafe Latte.  (I have to drink my milk somehow!!!)

Anyway, I love the guy behind the counter.  He probably speaks as much English as I do Korean, but we seem to get the messages across fairly uninterruptedly.  It is the same guy every day--with a few exceptions. So, he knows that I always get the same thing: Iced Cafe Latte with 1 syrup.  Except, somedays I also get a strawberry waffle--if I haven't been to Lotte Mart in a while and don't have any breakfast food.

Well, one day while the guy behind the counter (I don't know his name...) was making my latte, I happened to take a gander around the shop.  And I alarmed to discover that Lotteria is owned by vampires.  The proproganda is written clearly and in grammatically correct English.  It is written on the walls!  In Plain SIGHT!!

"Toch me, It's so easy to leave me.  Al alone with the memory of my DAYS IN THE SUN"

"I remember the time when I knew what happiness was"

"Life was beautiful then"

"memory...all alone in the moonlight"

"I can dream of the old days"

OPEN 24 hours, because Vampires have to work at night!

Don't the quotes sound like they come straight out of Edward's mouth?  Seriously?  They do.

Steve Jobs

Date: October 14, 2011

I was very surprised that the Koreans knew Steve Jobs.  I am a die hard Apple fan so I knew of him (not a lot, but some) and I was surpised that a country with such a strong electornic company (samsung) would know their rival company's president.

Anyway, Korea was with the world when Steve Jobs passed away.

The Start of A New Semester

Date: August 19, 2011

So I woke up this morning at my normal time: 8.15.  I have to desk warm starting at 9 and it takes me 15 minutes to get to school, so this is my normal time.  At 8:18 I got a phone call.  It went like this: 

 "Hi Maggie, this is Sue from Oku middle School."  

"Hi Sue! Good morning." 

 "Good morning.  I wonder where you are..." 

 "Oh?  What?" 

 "I am at hospital" (Our designated pick up spot)  "When will you be here?"

"er... what?"

"When will you be ready to go to school?"

"Today?  But school doesn't start until Monday!" 

...Pause..."we start today.  When will you be ready?"

Needless to say, I apparently started school today.  My country school had forgotten to notify anyone at Seohyung or--hey, even me--and tell them that the first day of school was today.  So I took a super quick shower, threw on clothes and brushed my teeth and RAN to catch the next bus.  Sue said she would meet me at school and said to come as quickly as possible.  I had 30 minutes to the next bus and then it would be another hour wait.  

On the way, huffing it to the bus stop, I run across my American Neighbors The Lemons, and I yell at them, "Guess who wasn't told school started today?! By the way, I was going to call and see if you wanted to do coffee today...maybe tomorrow?  'K, bye!!!"

I make to the bus stop, have been standing for 30 seconds and the bus pulls up.  Well, I think it is the right bus.  I mean, I have been getting a ride for the last semester so the last time I took the bus TO school was in December.  So I get on, quickly asking, "Daeya?"  At the bus driver's nod, I drop some money and settle in for my hour ride to school.  On the way to school, I quickly finish up the powerpoint I was planning for the next week.  Luckily, it is almost finished--just some quick touch ups and spell check -- and I can chill for 5 minutes.  

I hop off, delighted that "hey! It is the right bus!" and walk to school...

Yeah for the beginning of a new semester!

Red Bean Ice Slivers CornFlake Dessert

Date: Aug 2, 2011


It is Summer....and it is hot!  Which means its time for a new round of Korean Foods that I am discovering.    One of my favorite foods Samgyetang (삼계탕) I discovered is usually only for the summer.  The Westerner in me has doubts about this because Samgyetang is a chicken soup and, to me, the best time to eat hot chicken soup is during the winter, preferably after a snowball fight.  The idea is that one will ingest hot foods and that it will make your body hotter on the inside and thus the outside won't seem as hot.  I think it is just delicious and people have made up an excuse to continue eating it in the summer.  I love it.


Another yummy dish that friends have shown me is Pat bingsu (팥빙수).  Patbingsu is very unique to Korea.  To Western ears, it does not sound very delicious, but I am discovering a taste for it during the hot summer. 


Here is a picture of me and friends having some patbingsu at a cute coffee shop: 

It is kind of a "everything and the kitchen sink" dessert.  Originally it was just ice flakes and sweetened red beans.  But now, it's turned into this extravagant creation of yumminess.  There's a ice flake base, topped with some frozen yogurt or ice cream.  Pour the red beans over that.  Then add anything you have in your kitchen.  Here, we have some fruit: kiwi, banana, cherries, and I think some pineapple.  Then some rice cakes.  Throw on some cereal corn flakes (yep, that's right, random cereal) and top with some chocolate sauce and maybe sweeten condensed milk.  


It is sweet and cold--perfect for a Korean Summer break!

Rain

Date: 7/13/2011

Let's start this post off with telling you the play list I heard on the radio a week ago.  I am not kidding you when I say these are the five songs they played--in a row, within one hour:

    Singing in the Rain
    Umbrella by Rhianna
    Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
    It's Raining Men
    Over the Rainbow

There is a very popular saying among the Koreans: "Korea has 4 seasons."  I hear this all the time.  They are very proud to tell people that Korea has four seasons, which is almost always followed by "Does your-country have four seasons?"  They then seem generally confused that other countries have summer, spring, winter, and fall.  But I digress.

The reason I mention this is because I disagree with the Koreans.  I don't think they have four seasons--they have 5.  Summer, Spring, Winter, Autumn and Rain.  Monsoon Season.  Rainy Season. Mold Season.

It has literally been raining non-stop for 5 days now.  And not just little misty rain, but buckets--all the time.  It is disgusting.  I am not a big fan of rain--it gives me a headache.  And I'm used to just a good spring rain where it is a downpour for a while and then it clears up and is beautiful--not the Korean version of being grey, overcast, and raining for the WHOLE day.

I don't really know what is worse--my intense dislike for rain or the humidity.  Because Korean rain is not just water falling to the ground.  Its like the raindrops have fights and split in half and then decide to hang out in the air--forming this incredibly dense cloud of hot, humid nastiness.  It almost doesn't matter that the rain stops because the moist, damp air is so bad that you almost wish the rain would start again because it brings a bit of a breeze.  It is not like anything I have ever felt: including South Carolina summer.

It started on Saturday.  Around 11 am.  I think it stopped raining around 3 for about 15 minutes before it started again until I went to bed.  The next day, a friend posted these pictures on facebook:

Those car tires are complete submerged under water.

There is a sidewalk ledge here--a 7 inche sidewalk ledge. 

These are from his apartment.  The sewer system couldn't handle the downpour of rain and the streets had flooded over onto the sidewalk.  This caused the stores to all flood because there really isn't a ledge between the sidewalk and store.  And why would there be?  There is a 7 inch sidewalk lip and a 5 foot sidewalk--surely the water wouldn't rise that far...WRONG!

On Saturday I couldn't help but worry about the school.   What would it look like?

I have been very lucky to have an awesome landlord/co-teacher and have been getting rides to school in the morning when it is raining.  I got to school and was greated with the lovely 4 feet of steps between the flooded ground and the school.  Granted, I was really glad I had plastic sandals on because it was like walking through a mini lake getting into the school, but the school was ... relatively dry.

Korean buildings--at least the schools--are built differently than my American counterparts.  I noticed this first in winter when I had to walk from my teacher's office to my classroom.  Koreans don't heat/air condition the whole school--but they do individual rooms.  So in winter, I walk from my heated office, into the hallways (which are freezing), through an outside drive-through ledge that connects to another part of the school, down a hallway and to my classroom--which I promptly turn on the heat.  So, when in summer one goes through a similar process.  My teacher's office and classroom are the only cool parts of the school--and I basically feel like I am walking through the rainforest getting from one to another.

In America the buildings are nice and enclosed.  You walk from outside and get a nice blast of air con. Or you get out of the rain/moist-ness.  Here, the buildings are not enclosed.  I can literally look through the front doors of the school (which are open) and see all the way to the other outside of the school--with nothing stopping me.  No windows, no glass doors, nothing.  It is completely open.  So that nasty moist cloud of humidity moves has free rain/reign to move into the school and settle (pun intended).

This means that my school's floors have turned into something resembling a skating rink.  I wear rubber sandals as my school shoes.  These suckers turn into skates when I walk from office to school.  I slip and slide, scoot, and prepare to fall on my behind.  I have not fallen yet, but I'm just waiting for the day I have to walk around with a giant, butt-sized stain on my rear from slipping on the water on the floor.

All this rain has caused a giant rise in the talk of mold.  Now, in America, mold is not common.  And if it is, it is combated and defeated with practically nuclear-strength cleaners until any trace of mold is erradicated.  But, in Korea, it seems like mold is just something you deal with--like scratchy sheets or having to do laundry.  My landlord tells me every time he sees me to check for mold--not really how to combat it but to keep tabs on it.  My friend is living in a place where there is mold growing on her ceiling and he landlord is "working on it."  It has started moving into her closet and some of her clothes have little spots of mold on them.  Which just grosses me out--sorry, Sarah.

Luckily, I have not experienced any mold.  My apartment is very new and I've been very lucky.  When it is not raining I will open my windows to circulate the air.  If I start smelling mold I'm suppose to turn the heat on and bake the apartment out (I think I'll go get coffee for an hour or two if I have to do this).  I have cleaned out my closet so that blankets and stuff are safely stowed--but I still think I'm going to get mold on clothes and have to throw them out.

Unfortunately, this rainy season is supposed to last the rest of July and a week or two of August.  And, I hear, it's going to turn from rainy season to moist season.  The cloud of wetness is suppose to stay while the rain leaves.  And it supposed to just be unbearably hot.

I miss American summers.  My family is so active during the summer and the Indiana summer usually is very coorperative.  Hot, but dry and only short showers (if any).  Sunny and beautiful.  Korean summers, so far, leave much to be desired.

Paintballing

Date: May 29, 2011

This is part of the Adventure Korea: Pumba Festival, Beach, Sea Rafting, and Paintballing Weekend.

The next morning, Sarah and I woke up and went for a walk on the beach.  Then we went back to our rooms, changed into a bathing suit and proceeded to our next activity: Sea Rafting.

Unfortutely, sea rafting is not really a "camera friendly" sport.  We didn't get any pictures--but it was ALOT of fun.  The company AK used was great.  They had us doing races, chicken fighting, human pyramid fighting, and some swimming.

Then, after a quick lunch we changed into some new clothes to go paintballing.  I love paintballing and had wanted to do this trip since the moment I saw the word paintballing.  (Yes, I had only done it once, but hey--it was good fun then and it would be good fun now!)

First we had a 2 minute hike up to the paintball field.  Going up hill--it took a little longer than 2 minutes.  And it was hot and sticky.  Not great fun.  Plus, most of us wore long pants and shirts to protect us from paintball pain--which turned out to be unnecessary.

The instructor showing us how to us a paintball gun.

Then we get all dressed up.  Army outfits and a helmet.  All good ready to go!

Our teams were Predator and Commander.  Team photo:

Sarah and I:

We had some pretty fantastic death shots.  This is one of my favorites:

It was a blast!  As you can tell by Sarah's absolutely estatic face:

A couple of the people in the Adventure Korea Tour Group were military.  So, they had natural advantages to the game (not fair--but fun!).  Anyway, one of them militarily executed Sarah:

It was so much fun.  It was a little hot--especially in the uniforms.  But now I know how paintballing goes on here so I can wear better clothes next time. I had so much fun.  This was easily one of my more favorite AK trips.

Pumba Extras and Boryeong Beach

Date: May 29, 2011

The Pumba festival was part of a weekend of fun: Pumba, Paintballing and Beach.

Here are some more pictures of the Pumba Festival that my friend took.

This man and his two friends were very happy to take pictures with us....maybe a little too happy.

I found these guys while watching the  real Pumba dance on stage.  Covert Operation T-shirt went underway to achieve a picture.  It was a success.

When it was time to go, we turned in all of our Pumba clothes and I went to go wash off my face.  Only, the make-up they used wasn't easy to get off.

Luckily, Sarah had baby wipes in her purse that got most of the stuff off.

Then we boarded our bus and headed off to Boryeong beach!  Yeah!  BEACH!!!  If you can't tell, I was pretty excited.

We had free time that evening so we walked on the beach, watched a beautiful sunset, found the most delicious Chocolate Milkshakes and Pizza, and played with fireworks (on the beach, I felt like a criminal--it was great!).

Pretty Sun Set

Korean women love to wear heels.  They are addicted to them.  And they wear them in the strangest places: on Ice, in the rain and ... apparently on the beach.  But they have a nifty little back-up plan if the heels don't work.  They get their boyfriend to carry them.  That's the beauty of a country that every man has to do military work!

More Sunset

 As normal, Sarah and I were goofs and decided to do some BayWatch Runs.

This was interesting.  As we were walking up and down the beach, we noticed a tracker was backing up into the ocean.  That was strange....   

But then, a speed boat comes roaring up to the tracker.  It was the land-side moving machine.  It was funny to see the speed boat roar its way onto the docking device (I have no idea what it is actually called.) But the boat would literally gun it in order to make it onto the platform.  Then the tracker would happily scoot away with the boat.

It's not illegal to play with fireworks on the beach.  So, Sarah and I bought some sparklers (12 for $4) and went to write our names in the night. 

The lights from main strip along the beach.

It was a very good day.  I really enjoyed the beach--had forgotten how much I missed it.  I didn't go to the beach near my college nearly enough --but I have a feeling I'm going to make it up this summer!